The twentieth century environmental practices of a number of industries and problems associated with the remote locations of some regions have resulted in a legacy of abandoned sites in traditional Innu and Naskapi territory. Since there are no longer owners of theses forgotten sites, it is hard to establish polluter responsibility. Yet these sites are at the heart of traditional territory and the contamination of natural resources has an impact on the people who use the territory.
In 2017-2018, the FNQLSDI started a soil mapping inventory of abandoned sites in traditional Innu (Nitassinan) and Naskapi territory. The purpose of this inventory is to establish an action plan to restore the abandoned sites identified. The project, to take place in three phases, will be implemented over the next three years.
Webinars for First Nations
In 2019, the FNQLSDI produced a series of three webinars, on environmental contamination, for First Nations:
- Hydrogeology 101 : this first webinar aims to explain the basics of hydrogeology, concepts that will be useful to you to fully understand the following webinars. It will focus on the behaviour of different types of contaminants in soils and groundwater.
- Understanding Environmental Site Assessment studies: this second webinar is an overview of the four different phases of an environmental site assessment study.
- Environmental Sampling, Analyses and Interpretation: this third webinar is anoverview of the different sampling techniques and the field work during an environmental characterization.
Events
- Training contaminated sites and minor spills, Impact Assessment Act (Project 82) – May 17 to 19, 2022
- Training on environmental site characterization – october 29-30, 2019
- Workshop on the renewal of the FCSAP – July 4 & 5, 2018